KYIV, Ukraine — At least 13 people have been killed and more than 30 others injured after Russia launched one of its largest combined missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s capital in more than two weeks, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday.
The overnight bombardment targeted multiple districts across Kyiv, damaging residential buildings, civilian infrastructure and emergency facilities, while forcing residents to seek shelter as air raid sirens sounded across the city.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said rescue operations were continuing at several impact sites, where firefighters and emergency crews were searching for survivors trapped beneath the rubble.
Children Among Casualties
Kyiv Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said children were among the casualties as Russian strikes hit residential neighbourhoods.
“The enemy is once again deliberately targeting residential areas and killing civilians,” Tkachenko said.
Authorities said at least 34 people had been rescued from damaged buildings, including a high-rise apartment block and homes in the south-eastern part of the capital.
Emergency responders also battled multiple fires that engulfed buildings across the city, including a hotel on one of Kyiv’s central boulevards.
An ambulance station was among the facilities damaged during the attack, leaving at least one person critically injured.
Hundreds of Drones and Missiles Launched
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia fired 496 drones and 74 missiles overnight, making it one of the most intense aerial assaults of the war.
Air defence systems intercepted the majority of the incoming projectiles. However, officials said 25 ballistic missiles and 12 drones penetrated the country’s defences and struck 33 locations, most of them in Kyiv.
Residents reported hearing repeated explosions throughout the night as tracer fire illuminated the skies while Ukrainian air defence units attempted to intercept the incoming weapons.
By dawn, extensive destruction was visible across the capital, with damaged vehicles, cratered roads, collapsed structures and smouldering debris scattered across several neighbourhoods.
Russia Says It Targeted Military and Energy Facilities
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces had targeted Ukrainian military installations and energy infrastructure.
According to Russian authorities, the strikes were carried out in response to recent Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy facilities stretching from Moscow to the Black Sea region.
Moscow also claimed to have struck military bases in central and eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine has maintained that residential buildings and civilian infrastructure bore the brunt of the overnight assault.
Zelensky Calls for More Air Defence
The attack came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky cut short an official visit to Dublin, citing intelligence that Russia was preparing a large-scale assault.
“I urge our people to be especially careful, to protect themselves, their children, and, of course, their families,” Zelensky said before the strikes.
He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been preparing the attack “for some time now.”
Following the bombardment, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha urged Kyiv’s allies to strengthen the country’s air defences and impose tougher sanctions on Russia.
“Ukraine needs not only words of condemnation but concrete action to stop Russian terror,” Sybiha said in a statement posted on X.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Olha Stefanishyna, described the attack as another devastating night for civilians.
War Continues on Multiple Fronts
The latest bombardment comes as fighting intensifies in eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces have recently advanced toward the strategic city of Kostyantynivka, one of Kyiv’s remaining defensive positions in the Donbas region.
Ukraine’s military, however, says it has regained more territory this year than it has lost, disrupting Russian supply routes connecting occupied Crimea with the Russian border.